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4 Business School Trends to Watch

Sandra Ordonez is a web astronaut who specializes in digital strategy and collaboration. A passionate open source chica, she currently serves as external communications lead for Joomla!, director of Girls in Tech NY, and senior strategist for DigitalUNYC.

Business in the United States has experienced seismic shifts in the last decade, and business schools are no exception. These developments have been fueled by technology, the global financial crisis, cultural shifts, and the introduction of Gen Y into the business world.

Traditional MBAs, which have usually focused on accounting and finance, have a hard time producing the type of business leaders companies are currently looking for. Specifically, companies want ethical problem solvers with strong digital and entrepreneurial skills, who are team players and work well in diverse environments. Yet, a 2008 study of top business schools found that curricula lacked valued “thematic elements” such as soft skills, information technology, globalization and corporate and social responsibility.

This may be why in 2009 the MBA Roundtable in conjunction with Percept Research found that 69% of business schools surveyed had already made significant changes to their curriculum, and 89% had changes planned. Last year, prestigious universities like Harvard University and the Wharton School announced major curriculum overhauls that, for many, were a milestone. Here's how the other major trends in this space are playing out.

1. From Wall Street to Silicon Alley

The game-changing JOBS Act was signed into law, allowing entrepreneurs to offer equity when crowdfunding on websites like Rockethub and, in essence, providing an alternative to angel investors and venture capitalists.

Such developments are further encouraging MBA students and recent grads to start their own company rather than taking the traditional path of, say, working on Wall Street. "The U.S. is in a really exciting time because of this entrepreneurship bug that is spreading like the new version of the industrial revolution," says Brain Meece, co-founder of Rockethub. "Many of my colleagues were working at banks ... After the crash of '08, they began to question what they were doing with their life. Many decided to start their own company, reasoning 'even if I fail, at least i'm doing something that I want to do.’ "

Akiba Smith-Francis, Harvard Business School grad and founder of Stepping off the Path, a community of Ivy leaguers doing what they love, says that the rules for places like Wall Street have also changed.

She points out that Wall Street and financial services firms like investment banks are hiring fewer people than they did in the past. As a result, more MBAs are heading to Silicon Alley or pursuing their own startups. A recent report found that financial institutions have been hiring fewer people than they did during the first three quarters in 2011. Additionally, publications like CNET have begun documenting the arrival of MBAs to the tech world.

On the flip side, companies are demanding entrepreneurial skills from employees as well. Nuria Guilera from ESADE, a prominent Spanish business school, states that the the school has definitely noticed the different competencies and skills being demanded by recruiters, and that it has adapted its syllabus to focus more on entrepreneurship.

2. Rise of Collaborative Management

Traditionally, business schools have taught management and leadership models built upon more competitive and hierarchical structures. Only in recent years, have they begun to incorporate more collaborative models into their core curriculum. "More companies are adapting to the tech "horizontal" model and killing off the top-to-bottom management style,” says Breece. “This drastically changes the the type of personalities that will do well in this new way of doing business.”

Notably, schools like the Stanford Graduate School of Business have made collaboration and "crossing traditional boundaries" key philosophies of their culture. And they are, in fact, known for producing some of the most innovative graduates. Others, like HEC, a top French business school, are jumping on this trend by bringing in world-renowned collaboration experts. This February they announced a formal teaching partnership with Google, which will consist of a series of educational events taught by digital entrepreneurs and Google employees.

3. Ethics And Sustainability

Between the 2008 crash and scandals like Enron, schools have been forced to ask themselves what type of leaders they want to produce. Not surprisingly, a 2011 survey of business schools published by the Aspen Institute revealed that 79% of schools required a course in ethics or a related topic, which was a sharp increase from 2001 when only 34% of schools required such courses. "The rising interest in ethics at business schools may represent a shift away from the idea that businesses, simply through being successful, contribute adequately to the common good," says Visiting Assistant Philosophy Professor at University of North Florida and Girls in Tech NY adviser, William Koch.

He added that now, more than ever, economic success may depend upon being responsive to the ethical concerns of the public. And it’s not just society, but students themselves that are demanding these changes, says Stephanie Ta, Community Manager for TopMBAConnect.com, a community website of prospective MBA students. "Green MBAs and social good are trends among the population of young professionals I serve. Much of this is thanks to social media which has changed our behavior and what we expect from companies," she says.

4. The Many Faces of Diversity

For a sector that has traditionally has been dominated by men, schools have been working hard for years to diversify classrooms, many times using it as a selling point for their program. However, business schools are now confronting new diversity challenges — namely, learning how to attract more individuals that may not fit the traditional business school mold but may prove to be intrinsic in helping organizations tap into the new growth opportunities made possible by the Internet and its changing demographics. (Think a self-made programmer or a successful mommy blogger.)

While some schools have attempted to create cross-disciplinary MBAs or hyper-targeted recruiting initiatives, the majority are still trying to figure out how to improve gender imbalances. The University of St. Gallen has tried to address the issue with more scholarships that target women. Other schools such as MIT Sloan, celebrate their MBA female graduates by bringing attention to their accomplishments. While others, such as Boston University, have created women’s MBA associations. However, numbers are still low. Females made up 34.2% of the full-time 2010-2011 class entering the top MBA programs in the US. For top non-U.S. programs, women made up 30.7%.

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